Catholic participation in non-Catholic wedding
Question from Anonymous on 6/24/2008:
My husband and I are practicing Catholics. We have a "blended" family. His oldest daughter was raised Catholic but left the church in her late teens. She is getting married after having a two year old child and living in sin with the father for almost just as long. They are now getting married in a non-Catholic church, one they do not even attend. She expects my husband to "walk her down the isle". What is his obligation as a Catholic to participate in a non-Catholic wedding? It seems rather hypocritical to me considering his daughter's life prior to marriage.
Answer by David Gregson on 8/8/2008:
The simplest solution would be (or would have been) for your husband's daughter to have asked her Bishop (through her priest) for a dispensation, allowing her both to marry a non-Catholic and to be married in a non-Catholic ceremony. Without a dispensation, your husband cannot, in good conscience, take part in the ceremony. Unless the girl has formally defected from the Catholic Church, with a written statement to that effect to her Bishop or Pastor, she is still a Catholic, and her marriage would be invalid. To attend the wedding, let alone taking part in it, would appear to support her error. The best you could do to avoid a breach would be to attend the reception.
Question from Anonymous on 6/24/2008:
My husband and I are practicing Catholics. We have a "blended" family. His oldest daughter was raised Catholic but left the church in her late teens. She is getting married after having a two year old child and living in sin with the father for almost just as long. They are now getting married in a non-Catholic church, one they do not even attend. She expects my husband to "walk her down the isle". What is his obligation as a Catholic to participate in a non-Catholic wedding? It seems rather hypocritical to me considering his daughter's life prior to marriage.
Answer by David Gregson on 8/8/2008:
The simplest solution would be (or would have been) for your husband's daughter to have asked her Bishop (through her priest) for a dispensation, allowing her both to marry a non-Catholic and to be married in a non-Catholic ceremony. Without a dispensation, your husband cannot, in good conscience, take part in the ceremony. Unless the girl has formally defected from the Catholic Church, with a written statement to that effect to her Bishop or Pastor, she is still a Catholic, and her marriage would be invalid. To attend the wedding, let alone taking part in it, would appear to support her error. The best you could do to avoid a breach would be to attend the reception.
No comments:
Post a Comment